As title says, in June I got screwed on my bonus. Got told when I joined it was 10-15% of annual salary. June rolls around and the bonus is at 6%. Was told our whole team took a hit on bonuses this year, despite the company doing 40% more revenue than projected, and while celebrating 2 x multi-million £ contracts I was instrumental to us winning. I asked if there was anything I personally could have done to get my full bonus? The answer was “no”. When I asked around, everyone else in the team had gotten a full bonus – except for me. So it wasn’t just the lack of bonus but the deception surrounding it. (Maybe relevant or not: I’m the only woman on my team, all the men got a full bonus).
Having been with the company for a year, demonstrated my value, with the cost of living going up and having taken on line management responsibilities, I requested a pay rise. With inflation set to be at 10% within the year, anything less than 10% would be a real-terms pay cut. After broaching this with my manager on multiple occasions, I was repeatedly fobbed off, and told how competitive my pay was. After I ranted to HR and dropped the potential gender discrimination into the mix regarding bonuses, they came back with a 5% pay rise award. 5%. You know, because my pay was so competitive already.
So I shopped around. I work in tech and my skill set is in short supply in the UK. Had some conversations and some interviews. Turns out my role is in high demand everywhere. High demand + short supply = higher salaries. It’s almost as if my line manager hadn’t really investigated how competitive my current salary actually was.
I accepted an offer for £15k more than my current salary, will be signing the contract on Friday, and will give my notice as soon as it’s signed. There will be some panic no doubt. The irony is that the company I’m leaving will need to pay a contractor for DOUBLE my previous salary to pick up my work.
The moral of the story is to shop around, value yourself, and don’t believe what you’re told by people with a vested interest in screwing you over.